Etymologically
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bitch

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bɪtʃ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bicche,[2][3] inherited from Old English bicce (“female dog”),[4][2][5] related, perhaps by borrowing, to Old Norse bikkja (“female dog”), which is of unknown origin.[4][2][5] The Old Norse oath bikkju-sonr matches Middle English biche sone “son of a bitch”.[2] Grimm derived the Norse word from Sami pittja, but the OED says the reverse is just as possible.[4] A link with French biche “hind” is unknown.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The female of the dog: about 1000.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The female of the fox, wolf and other animals is from 1555.[7] As a term of contempt for a woman it dates from about 1400,[4][7][6] and of a man, more playfully, from about 1500.[4][7] Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811) called it the most offensive name one could give an Englishwoman.[4] In some Scottish and northern dialects it was used of a woman with no disrespect.[8] The verb “to spoil, bungle” is from 1823,[2][4] and “to complain, grumble” from 1930 or before.[2][4] Chaucer's bicched bones, “unlucky dice”, shows the Middle English adjective bicched “cursed, bad”.[4] Something very difficult or unpleasant is a later colloquial sense.[9][10]

Timeline

  • c. 1000 – a female dog.[2][7]
  • c. 1400 – a contemptuous term for a woman.[4]
  • c. 1500 – of a man.[4]
  • 1555 – the female of other animals.[7]
  • 1823 – verb, to bungle.[2]
  • 1930 – verb, to complain.[2][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A female dog, wolf, fox or otter.
  2. (offensive) A spiteful or overbearing woman.
  3. (informal) Something very difficult or unpleasant.
  4. (informal) A complaint.

Verb

  1. (informal) To complain; to grumble.
  2. To spoil or bungle.

Word family

  • superbitch
  • bitchery
  • bitchin'
  • bitchy
  • bitch goddess
  • son of a bitch

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster